prompt action to be necessary. Apparently King John took some definite action to formulate and maintain his claim, for Raynaldus states that a contention arose between the sovereigns of Castile and Portugal over the new realm.[1]
Further, the instructions given to the Spanish ambassador to the Pope, as Herrera reports them, are quite explicit in stating that the discoveries had been made without the slightest encroachment on the possessions of Portugal.[2] It was also stated that some learned men were of opinion that by reason of the admiral having taken possession of the new countries, there was no need of the Pope's confirmation or donation, yet as obedient children to the Holy See and pious princes their Catholic Majesties desired his Holiness to grant them the lands already discovered or that should be discovered. The Bull was issued with the consent of the whole Sacred College.[3][4]
Traces of this contention between Portugal and the Spanish sovereigns are to be found in the Bull of May 3, 1493, of which the following are the essential points.
After briefly reciting the zeal of the Catholic sovereigns
- ↑ The statement introduces the text of the Bull of May 3, 1493, and may have been based on documents in the Papal Archives: "Exorta vero mox post Christophori Columbi reditum lis est inter Castellanum et Lusitanum Reges de Oceani novique orbis imperio; nam Lusitanus inventas à Columbo insulas ad se spectare contendit, negabat vero Castellanus, etc." Raynaldus, Annales Eccles., Tom. XIX, 420.
- ↑ Herrera, Historia General, Decade I, Lib. II, ch. iv. Harrisse questions this. Dip. Hist., 37.
- ↑ Herrera, Ibid.
- ↑ Harrisse found in the Archives of the Frari at Venice the letter which Alexander VI. sent with the Bulls on the 17th of May, 1493, to Francis de Spratz, the nuncio at the court of Spain. It refers to several documents, but all it says of the Demarcation Bull is the following: "Praeterea aliud breve super concessione dominii et bonarum illarum nuper ab hominibus Regiis inventarum per nos facta prefatis Regibus." Bibliotheca Vetusta Americana, Additions, 2.
Raynaldus, XIX, 421, § 19, prints the letter of the Pope to Ferdinand and Isabella accompanying the Bulls. It is dated May 3, and calls attention to the existing rights of Portugal. These of course were specified in the Bull of May 4.
